“Thanks,” Apple whispered as she started through the opening.
Raven followed. Sometimes her roommate totally rocked.
Ashlynn kept singing. Her lullaby was so lovely, and Raven missed singing. Without even thinking about it, she found herself humming along on harmony.
Instantly the briar branches stiffened and whipped back into place.
Apple and Raven were caught in the center of the hedge.
“Raven!” Apple scolded.
“Oh, hex no. Sorry. Dark sorceress shutting up. Ashlynn, can you try the humming thing again? I promise not to join in this time.”
Ashlynn tried, but the briars wouldn’t budge, too frightened of the evil sorceress in their midst, it seemed. And they seemed to be slowly growing, sticks and thorns pushing against them. A thorn bit at Raven’s coat.
Not the coat, not the coat, she thought. A second thorn broke through the fabric. Raven glared, wishing so hard she could just cut loose and curse the whole big, stupid plant.
“I know who can help,” Ashlynn whispered, and she ran off.
“Raven, can you use some magic and blast us out of here?” Apple asked.
“Oh, sure, yeah, I could try that. Hey, did I ever tell you about the time I tried to help a cat get down from a tree and instead of lowering the cat into my hands, the tree flung it high into the air? Yeah, imagine what I could do to you at close range.”
“We need a prince,” Apple said. “A prince will—ow! They’re growing in!—A prince always saves the—ow!”
Just then, Prince Daring walked by as if out for an evening stroll.
Raven opened her mouth to call for him.
“Shh!” said Apple.
“I thought you said—” Raven whispered.
“I changed my mind,” Apple whispered back. “Daring would not understand. Rules, you know.”
“Then what’s he doing out here breaking the curfew rule anyway?”
But Daring and his briar-chopping sword were gone.
Thorns were pressing against every part of Raven. One popped a button on her coat.
Another someone walked by. A prince? No, it was Hunter. And he had his ax. He always had his ax. He was looking around furtively, definitely not wanting to be seen. Too bad.
“Hunter!” Raven whisper-called.
Hunter jumped. He peered into the briars.
“Is that you?” he asked.
“Um, if you mean Raven and Apple, then yes,” said Raven. “Can you do your choppy thing? Pronto? We’re in a—ow!—a thicket, if you know what I mean.”
“What in Ever After are you doing in there?” he asked.
“No time to explain,” Apple said. “Would you be so kind?”
Apple smiled at Hunter. And then—yes—she batted her eyelashes.
He put a fist on his hip. “Of course! I—”
“But no shirt-ripping, if you please,” Raven said. “Just the chopping.”
Hunter was an excellent chopper. He didn’t care that as he labored deeper into the hedge his own shirt tore and skin scratched. He chopped a tunnel straight toward and around the girls, clearing through to the other side.
The girls stepped free, shaking the severed twigs from their clothes and hair.
“Thanks, Hunter, really,” said Raven. “Our secret, okay?”
“It was my pleasure to aid you.” He looked between the odd pair as if very much wishing to know what they were up to, but he didn’t ask and headed through the tunnel back to school grounds.
Just as Raven and Apple were running off, Ashlynn returned.
“There you are,” she said to Hunter. As if she’d been looking for him specifically. As if she’d been expecting him.
Could Hunter and Ashlynn…? No. It was a crazy thought. Ashlynn was destined for some prince, and Hunter was completely nutso for being the future Huntsman in Snow White’s and Red Riding Hood’s stories. Falling in love outside your story was completely forbidden, and Hunter and Ashlynn weren’t the rebel types. Raven was just fooling herself, wishing that there were others like her who wanted a different destiny.
The moon was out, high and full as pumpkin pie. It seemed too bright to Raven as they crossed the footbridge. Hopefully All the King’s Horses and All the King’s Men were still on their scone break.
Apple and Raven ran through the meadow, eager for the shelter of the Enchanted Forest. Nevermore met them first. The dragon growled with joy, tucking her head under Raven and flinging Raven onto her back. Raven laughed between shushing noises.
“We’re being sneaky, Nevermore, okay? Fairy, fairy quiet.”
Gala was as silent as snow, silver in the moonlight, and in moments curled around Apple’s neck like a fluffy and fashionable scarf.
Nevermore carried Raven to the tree, only letting her off after Raven had given her underwings a good scratch and promised to come play the next day.
“Ready?” said Raven, suddenly feeling nervous.
Apple nodded.
Raven reached inside the knothole. It was deep. She had to put her arm in up to the elbow before she felt something. She pulled it out.
It was a piece of parchment, so old the edges crumbled with her touch. Holding her breath, Raven carefully unrolled it. The parchment began to crack. Apple read the writing aloud by moonlight as fast as she could.
Dear Brutta,
By the time you read this, you will know I ran away. I am so sorry. I just cannot face Legacy Day. I know that by not showing up to sign the Storybook of Legends I will be condemning not just my story to oblivion but yours as well. Will you forgive me? As soon as I leave this note for you, I will go hide from whatever magic the Storybook of Legends possesses. Maybe if I am far away, it will not find me and make me go poof. If I survive, and if you can forgive me, please come find me. I will be hiding in one of the Mystery Caves. You remember, the one we picnicked in at the end of the yellow sand trail?
I will wait till you come. I am so sorry. I hope I am not making a terrible mistake.
Love always, your sister,
Bella
No sooner had Apple read Bella’s name than the letter reduced to dust and was dashed apart by a breeze.
“It was still in the tree,” said Raven. “I don’t think her sister ever saw it.”
Apple nodded sadly. “Because when Legacy Day came and Bella didn’t sign, they both poofed.”
“We don’t know that! Maybe her sister just never checked the tree.”
“Oh, come now, Raven. Headmaster Grimm says if someone doesn’t sign, they and their story disappear, and here’s evidence. So that’s that.”
“I guess we’ll never know what really happened,” Raven said with what she hoped sounded like resignation.
Apple raised one eyebrow. “You’re thinking of going to the Mystery Caves to try to find the one she described, aren’t you? The cave at the end of the yellow sand trail? And you’re thinking of going without me?”
“No!” said Raven. “Well, maybe it crossed my mind.”
Apple put her hands on her broad hips. “We’re in this together.”
“Okay, okay. Together. But how will we sneak away from school long enough to get to the caves?”
By the time they made it back through the meadow and over the footbridge, dawn was dawning. With the first peek of sunlight, the monstrous black briars around the school fizzled into shadows that wilted back into the ground. Apple followed Raven up the ivy and into their room.
They fell into their beds and had just closed their eyes when Apple’s cuckoo alarm clock cheeped.
“Curses,” Raven said.
“Rules… are rules for a reason,” Apple moaned.
It was going to be a very long day.
YOU’VE BEEN ACTING BRAINSWISHED lately,” said Briar, trying on a pair of punch-pink heels at the Glass Slipper. “You okay?”
“Of course!” said Apple. “I’ve just been tired. I was helping Raven, and it’s taken me a while to catch up on my sleep.”
“Yeah, the last few days your MyChapter status has been ‘drowsy.’ I don’t think I’ve ever been drowsy. I mean, I’m awake or I’m asleep. No in-between.” Briar examined her brown hair in the mirror. “I was thinking of heading over to the Tower Salon and getting a pink streak put in. What do you think? Divacorn has them in her mane, and a girl’s gotta complement her unicorn.”
“That sounds spellbinding,” said Apple.
“Hey, Briar. Hey, Apple,” said Ashlynn, bringing in a stack of shoe boxes from the back room. She was the only royal with an after-school job. Her mother insisted she learn how to work hard. After all, she was going to have to spend a lot of her story mopping floors. “We got a shipment of fuzzy slippers just in time for the Beauty Sleep Festival.”
Apple looked up from a pair of white platform sandals. “The Beauty Sleep Festival…”
All the royal tales got their own special festivals. In honor of the Sleeping Beauty tale, Ever After High held the yearly Beauty Sleep Festival. Everyone put on their pajamas and lay down on their beds, and a magical sleep spell rained over the castle, putting them into a restful slumber for two days.
Briar rolled her eyes. “I’d prefer my story got a dance festival with some kicky music and a chocolate fountain.”
“It’s kind of like a massive slumber party, so that’s cool,” said Ashlynn.
“Kinda,” said Briar. “But the best part of a slumber party isn’t the part where you’re unconscious. I’m already facing a hundred years of sleep. Worst. Festival. Ever.”
“You recall that the royal festival for the Cinderella story is basically just an excuse to get the students to clean the high school,” said Ashlynn.
Briar laughed, putting her arm around Ashlynn. “That’s true! But at least your Spring Cleaning Festival ends with a Ball.”
Apple always enjoyed the Apple Festival in her story’s honor—so many pies and turnovers and breads, and none of them poisoned. The whole school smelled of cinnamon and nutmeg for days. The Spring Cleaning Festival was an excellent opportunity to clean out her sock drawer and then wear a ball gown and dance till midnight. The Little Mermaid Festival took place every summer at Looking Glass Beach with swimming, beach volleyball, and a clam dig.
As president of the Royal Student Council, Apple had never missed a festival, even the comatose one. But it would provide two days when the entire school and faculty would be asleep and unaware if someone was gone. Raven was more important than any festival. Their story was more important.
Apple was looking over the display without really seeing, trailing her fingers over fluffy cotton squirrel and mouse slippers. “Briar, how far does the sleep spell reach? Into town?”
“Nope, it gets tangled in the Night Briars,” she said.
Originally the Night Briars grew only during the Beauty Sleep Festival. But since the Evil Queen’s rampage, Milton Grimm had increased security at Ever After High and now summoned the magical hedge nightly.
“All the King’s Horses and All the King’s Men ride beyond the briars before the sleep spell falls so they remain awake and kicking,” said Briar.
“Of course, Headmaster Grimm wouldn’t want dozing security.…” Apple hopped in excitement. “I’ve been so distracted by classes and the Royal Student Council and Raven that I didn’t even remember the Beauty Sleep Festival was tomorrow!”
“Well, if we have to sleep for two days, we might as well do it in style!” said Briar. “I need new pajamas that say I’m always ready to party. I am definitely not a flannel-nightgown Sleeping Beauty, if you know what I mean.”
After shopping, Apple ran back to their dorm room. Raven was curled up in a chair by the fire studying her Home Evilnomics hextbook. Whenever she turned a page, the book made an evil cackle.
“Beauty Sleep Festival” was all Apple said. She was slightly out of breath from running, but she suspected the exercise had given her face a lovely sheen.
“It’s tomorrow,” said Raven.
Apple nodded, her smile excited.
“You mean…” Raven closed her hextbook. It cackled sadly. “We ditch it? Everyone will be asleep. No one would even know.…”
Apple nodded again, still smiling.
“Apple, this isn’t like you,” said Raven. “To miss one of the royal festivals willingly?”
“I know you won’t be satisfied until you’ve exhausted every possible lead. And I want you to be fully committed to our story.”
Raven put out her hand. “Together,” she said.
Apple took it. “Together. And now we’ve got to pack! What to wear? I think my red velvet travel cloak will look so elegant against the backdrop of a green forest. And—ooh—I love these white heeled sandals with the red apple buckle—”
“Apple,” said Raven. “You realize we’ll be walking. A lot. And it will be hard and possibly dangerous.”
Apple stared at Raven for several seconds. “You’re right. No heels.”
She spent the entire afternoon packing and repacking. Birds and squirrels raced into her open window to help, but they weren’t very good at making decisions.
“Does this skirt say, ‘I may be hiking through goblin-infested mountains, but I’m still a pure, proper, intelligent maiden of royal birth’?” Apple would ask, and the squirrels would just tilt their heads and squeak.
Raven sat studying a map. “The water route would be the fastest, but the current flows the wrong way. We’ll have to walk. The caves are a day to the east. That is, a day going over the mountain. Longer if we walk around it.”
“Well, then,” Apple said smartly, “we’ll walk over it.”
The only times Apple had been hiking, she’d been escorted by seven dwarf lackeys, twelve servants, eight armed guards, and a flock of seagulls carrying a net should perchance she slip.
There would be no safety net here.
But Apple refused to be afraid. Well, maybe she was just a little afraid. Still, once this journey was over, she was certain Raven would be convinced—and Apple’s Happily Ever After secure.
THE MORNING OF THE BEAUTY SLEEP Festival dawned as bright as leprechaun gold. Apple and Raven ate breakfast with their own friends, sneaking extra food into their bags.
By noon they were lying down in their beds, covers to their necks, waiting for their check-in. Raven’s legs twitched. Her body did not want to be just lying there. She was ready to run.
At last, a faculty member opened the door. It was Professor Momma Bear, a sleeping cap pulled over her furry head.
“Someone is sleeping in her bed,” Momma Bear called out from the door.
“It’s me,” they called back in unison as they did each night at curfew check.
“Good girls. Nighty-night.”
“Happy Beauty Sleep, Professor Momma Bear!” Apple said.
The moment the ursine professor closed the door, Apple and Raven leaped out of bed and grabbed their backpacks. It would be impossible to hide at high noon. Raven just hoped everyone was too busy settling into bed to look out the windows.
As they shimmied down the ivy, they could hear the Night Briars begin to grow, a whispery, clawing kind of sound.
“Hurry, hurry, hurry,” Raven whispered.
She jumped down the last ten feet and ran, leaping over the low hedge. Apple was right behind her. Part of Raven hoped Apple wouldn’t make it and then felt guilty for the thought. The briars were getting higher. Apple took a running leap, her shoes grazing the top of the growing hedge, the back of her skirt ripping.
“Should have worn pants,” Apple said, breathing heavily. “Note to self: Order custom riding breeches in white silk with red apple trim.”
When they reached the bottom of the hill, Raven glanced back. The briars were a hundred feet high now. A pink cloud was gathering above the castle. It shook, and like a sifter sprinkling sugar on a cake, pink magic dust drifted from the cloud and powdered Ever After High. The billows of magic caught in the briars and spread no more.
Everyone inside wou
ld be asleep now. Raven envied them a bit. The Beauty Sleep Festival was a major power nap.
There was a whoosh of leathery wings and a streak of green. Raven felt a yank and suddenly she was high above the ground, Nevermore’s clawed arms holding her tight.
“Aw, they must have sensed us leaving the castle,” said Apple, sitting on the ground to pet Gala.
“Nevermore, sweetie,” said Raven, “can you go small, please? We’re trying not to attract notice.”
Nevermore’s huge nose wrinkled with a grimace. She sighed with a puff of smoke and shut her eyes tight.
“Wait—put me down before you—”
Poof. The enormous dragon was now the size of a large dog. And together, Nevermore and Raven fell. Nevermore beat her now smaller wings furiously, gripping Raven’s arms. Their fall slowed, and Raven landed softly on a bush.
“Good girl,” said Raven.
Nevermore spun in the air, pleased with herself.
They skirted the Village of Book End and headed out into the wide-open pastures. The day was sunny. Fluffy sheep bounded through the grass wearing bells around their necks and frilly bonnets on their heads. To the south, Jack’s Great Beanstalk climbed into the clouds. They would have to steer to the right of the beanstalk farm, although that would lead them directly through the marsh—muddy, wet, full of biting and slithering things, not to mention a Marsh King who was known to pull the occasional girl down under the mud and make her his wife. Raven shivered, but the quest was more important than her fear.
With Nevermore by her side, the sun above, and adventure before her, Raven felt more hope than ever. Maybe Bella Sister had ended up all right. Maybe Grimm was mistaken about the fate of those who don’t sign—or maybe he even lied. She usually avoided even thinking about the Snow White story, but suddenly it didn’t hold as much fear for her. After all, she might actually escape that destiny! No spiky crowns and long capes, goblin minions and smoky potions, evil cackles in her throat, a crazy urge to kill Snow White, her fair stepdaughter—